Alvaro Morata

[FootballHQ]

This guy seems like the ultimate FFP player to me, seemingly happy just to be squad player at endless CL clubs and getting passed around on loan most seasons, forgot who even owns him currently.

He does have talent. I went to Stoke-Chelsea early on in his spell there when he scored a superb hat-trick with fantastic running off the defenders. Also loved that looping header he scored v ironically Man. United but then his Chelsea career fizzled out soon after.

Think him playing for Spain at euros last summer summed it up, didn't score and then lost his confidence and starting place. Edit: Seems he scored three so confusing him with Moreno who missed the penalty v Sweden.

Bit of a pinball career, came through at Madrid, couple of years at Juve then back to Madrid to warm the bench, then Chelsea for actually three years although they then loaned him to Atletico who then signed him....and then soon after they decided to send him on loan back to Juventus for two years....

At least he's had a miles better career than Jese who came through at Real Madrid at same time in 2010.

 

[sourdough satellite]

I can't honestly picture him signing for any club that isn't from Madrid or Turin.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Prefer Martial over him

 

[edcunited1878]

When your owner or club needs to launder money, he's the guy to clean it!

 

[mitchmouse]

I think I'd take up Hernndez's offer of playing for us for free before this guy. We got rid of him too early anyway

 

[Davie Moyes]

Hah and I think therein lies the disconnect - United are obviously the biggest club in the country and should be truly ambitious, but you have parasitic owners happy to sign commercial deals with anyone so they can leech off bigger dividends. You should be after the likes of those you mentioned I completely agree - I just don't think it's realistic given you're looking in the bargain bin for the likes of Rabiot and Arnautovic. My general point is that Morata has been somewhat underrated here based on the posts and is a far better player than those two - I genuinely think it could be a very savvy move at the rumoured price given the state of your squad.



Yeah could see that being the case. I do think some of his mental struggles are being overstated - whilst he's openly talked about the unfortunate confluence of factors that derailed his first year at Chelsea, I do think it's being overlooked that Conte is perhaps the worst manager imaginable to play for if you're dealing with a mental health crisis and that was almost certainly an exacerbating factor.

Really though I just think his strengths would help elevate others at the club - in many ways he's the opposite of Ronaldo in terms of selfishness, workrate, ostentatiousness, hold-up play, willingness to pass, etc. Personally I never thought the Ronaldo signing made sense for you and for me letting the likes of Sancho, Bruno, and Rashford step out of Ronaldo's shadow with a player able and willing to facilitate would lift the team significantly.

Good post mate. I agree with this especially the last paragraph. I don't think our players do enough of that. Hence why our attack looks disjointed and we don't create enough therefore don't score enough.

 

[CM]

16 pl goals in 50 games as a nr 9 in a top team is shit. Have people forgotten how bad he was in the PL?

What's the alternative? We're looking for a stopgap squad option, any player we look at for that role will have some limitations. Especially at this point in the window.

Gakpo is the most heavily linked player at the moment and he's only played as a striker a handful of times.

 

[VP89]

What's the alternative? We're looking for a stopgap squad option, any player we look at for that role will have some limitations. Especially at this point in the window.

Gakpo is the most heavily linked player at the moment and he's only played as a striker a handful of times.

For me, Jonathan David

 

[GDaly95]

Panicking and getting him in at the end of the window would be so us.

 

[CM]

For me, Jonathan David

Which would be fine if we had owners who were prepared to spend any kind of money

 

[Abraxas]

For me, Jonathan David

Would be interesting, but I really don't think the 50-60 million I'm assuming it would take is there for a striker. There has to be a reason that everyone linked is bargain bucket. Either all the links are wrong or there is a limited budget in view of other signings.

 

[MrEleson]

He’s actually an excellent hold up and link-up player. Just inconsistent in front of goal and mentally weak. Considering the alternatives that the club have been looking at in previous weeks (Arnautovic); I would take him pretty swiftly at the right price.

Also, he’s definitely not worse than Martial.

 

[Castia]

Hilarious. Absolute bottler and about as mediocre a goal scoring record possible considering some of the clubs he's played for.

Crap just like all the players we're currently linked with baring FDJ.

Sorry to be so negative but Morata and Rabiot feck off

 

[GoldanoGraham]

We will be moving onto Greizmann next….

 

[Plant0x84]

Hilarious. Absolute bottler and about as mediocre a goal scoring record possible considering some of the clubs he's played for.

Crap just like all the players we're currently linked with baring FDJ.

Sorry to be so negative but Morata and Rabiot feck off

No you’re not, you love it!!!
That said, you’re not wrong here….

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

This guy seems like the ultimate FFP player to me, seemingly happy just to be squad player at endless CL clubs and getting passed around on loan most seasons, forgot who even owns him currently.

Genuinely thought the same.

 

[NewGlory]

IF there is any truth to us buying him... If...

I am not fecking kidding: if we really sign this useless, lazy waste of space I will stop watching United and EPL for at least until he is gone or Glazers and their moronic executives feck off, whichever comes first.

What kind of MORON can possibly want Morata at United. My GOD!

 

[userman]

Closer to deadline day and Atletico becoming increasingly desperate to get him of their books, we should try to get him on a season long loan. Obviously with no obligation to buy.

A much better striker than the others we’ve been linked too, even though he’s a poor finisher.

 

[Majima]

I'd be very happy if he comes as a relatively inexpensive option. Whenever I've seen him for Spain he's impressed. His linkup play and movement is excellent. Shame about his finishing but, if he could finish he'd be incredible so that's why he's cheap. We're not going to get any top strikers so he's likely the best we can hope for. Very rarely injured too so he's a step up on Martial, whilst they could easily play together also.

 

[Idxomer]

Our strongest links currently are players Juventus are trying their hardest to get rid of, genuinely disgraceful. The club hierarchy should be ashamed.

Morata isn't a Juve player.

 

[luke511]

Morata isn't a Juve player.

I’d just realised as you sent it, 2 year loan has done me dirty

 

[Castia]

What's the alternative? We're looking for a stopgap squad option, any player we look at for that role will have some limitations. Especially at this point in the window.

Gakpo is the most heavily linked player at the moment and he's only played as a striker a handful of times.

Poor bugger.

Look at the position you’re in. It’s August 11th and due to the clubs inability to do anything right you’re making an argument for them to sign Alvaro Morata one of the worst strikers to ever reach the top elite level of football.

He’s absolutely rubbish. Filling the squad with crap like Morata and Rabiot will set us back years, we’ll always be looking to replace average players in a non stop loop. If the first 11 needs improving why the hell are we signing 3rd or 4th rate squad players.

 

[NewGlory]

I'd be very happy if he comes as a relatively inexpensive option. Whenever I've seen him for Spain he's impressed. His linkup play and movement is excellent. Shame about his finishing but, if he could finish he'd be incredible so that's why he's cheap. We're not going to get any top strikers so he's likely the best we can hope for. Very rarely injured too so he's a step up on Martial, whilst they could easily play together also.

What a load of crap.

Have you even watched him for Chelsea? A striker that cannot finish and score, sure - sounds like a great idea.

Some opinions on this website, for fecks' sake...

 

[luke511]

What a load of crap.

Have you even watched him for Chelsea? A striker that cannot finish and score, sure - sounds like a great idea.

Some opinions on this website, for fecks' sake...

Signing players that clubs above us have sold to improve their squad, in hope of closing the gap on them, makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[ti vu]

Signing players that clubs above us have sold to improve their squad, in hope of closing the gap on them, makes no sense whatsoever.

Our issue right now is staying afloat before closing the gap. Outside these underwhelming options, there are not any option that not involved silly fee. The upper management failed the transfer window again with their no planning required approach.

 

[CM]

Poor bugger.

Look at the position you’re in. It’s August 11th and due to the clubs inability to do anything right you’re making an argument for them to sign Alvaro Morata one of the worst strikers to ever reach the top elite level of football.

He’s absolutely rubbish. Filling the squad with crap like Morata and Rabiot will set us back years, we’ll always be looking to replace average players in a non stop loop. If the first 11 needs improving why the hell are we signing 3rd or 4th rate squad players.

As I've said before, I'd be in favour of bringing him in on loan. That doesn't tie us down to paying a huge fee or taking on his wages in the long-term, if that was the case then perhaps I'd revise my position.

We're looking for a striker where the context is our only fit senior striker got injured the week before the season started. The other one has undermined the manager all pre-season and wants out.

We aren't talking about bringing in world class players here. We're looking at a squad player or a stopgap - the others linked have been Arnautovic, Gakpo and Kalajdzic. Morata isn't a good finisher but he's a good enough footballer that he might bide the team and the manager some time to get short term results while (hopefully) sorting out a more viable alternative for next summer. I don't have a lot of faith that we'll do that, but let's not pretend we're signing a striker from a position of strength here and that we're going to magic up some superstar signing in the next two weeks.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Good post mate. I agree with this especially the last paragraph. I don't think our players do enough of that. Hence why our attack looks disjointed and we don't create enough therefore don't score enough.

Cheers for the kind words mate - and for what it's worth I see the exact same disjointed nature within the Portuguese NT and I think it causes issues for them as well.

Ronaldo is obviously among the very best players of all time, but the problem with him is that he still seems to think he is at his peak when he's very obviously past it. He's just not the sort to ever pass up a chance to shoot no matter if he has a teammate in a better position - and his status makes his teammates overly deferential to him. And on top of that this is all exacerbated by his legendary status at Man United - whilst I wouldn't say he's bigger than the club I'm reasonably confident that he thinks he is, and that's more or less the problem in a nutshell.

 

[luke511]

Our issue right now is staying afloat before closing the gap. Outside these underwhelming options, there are not any option that not involved silly fee. The upper management failed the transfer window again with their no planning required approach.

We need to be signing a striker that we plan on using as first choice this season and in the future if we want to improve, not a short term stop gap, back up striker that nobody really wants. You’re right when you say our upper management have failed miserably, but we should be putting in a heavy investment towards a good striker, any less and we won’t improve.

 

[Pintu]

He’s actually an excellent hold up and link-up player. Just inconsistent in front of goal and mentally weak. Considering the alternatives that the club have been looking at in previous weeks (Arnautovic); I would take him pretty swiftly at the right price.

Also, he’s definitely not worse than Martial.

Inconsistent is quite an understatement. Morata is turning 30 and can barely score 9/10 league goals per season. He couldn’t make Serie A’s top 30 goal scorers of last season.

How can anyone see these stats and think “this is a striker for United”?

 

[The Dane]

If Morata is in I’m out. I can’t take any more bullying from my non United friends and this will give them enough ammunition to go on for days or at least until FDJ signs for Chelsea.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Inconsistent is quite an understatement. Morata is turning 30 and can barely score 9/10 league goals per season. He couldn’t make Serie A’s top 30 goal scorers of last season.

How can anyone see these stats and think “this is a striker for United”?

9 goals and 7 assists in 2311 minutes translates to a goal contribution every 144.4 minutes. So he either scored or assisted a goal roughly every game and a half.

Just for reference last year (league minutes only) -
Rashford: 4 goals 2 assists in 1233 minutes (205.5 min per G/A)
Martial: 1 goal 1 assist in 705 minutes (352.5 min per G/A)
Bruno: 10 goals 6 assists in 3120 minutes (195.0 min per G/A)
Sancho: 3 goals 3 assists in 1904 minutes (317.3 min per G/A)
Ronaldo: 18 goals 3 assists in 2459 minutes (117.1 min per G/A)

Genuinely don't understand why Morata's record is somehow horrible given this context.

 

[The Purley King]

Out of lukaku and morata, morata finished last please for the love of god don’t sign him

 

[city-puma]

For me, Jonathan David

He mainly operates as RW, no?

 

[VP89]

He mainly operates as RW, no?

According to here he is mainly a CF
https://www.footballcritic.com/jonathan-david/player-positions/178654

 

[city-puma]

According to here he is mainly a CF
https://www.footballcritic.com/jonathan-david/player-positions/178654

Ah, interesting. Every time I watched Lille’s highlights, Yilmaz seems to be the CF. David broke from right wing a lot.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Ah, interesting. Every time I watched Lille’s highlights, Yilmaz seems to be the CF. David broke from right wing a lot.

Lille have mostly played 4-4-2 since Galtier was there and they won the league

 

[croadyman]

For me, Jonathan David

I can understand the lack of links to Osmihen due to his valuation, however can't when it comes to this guy.

 

[Mainoldo]

I can understand the lack of links to Osmihen due to his valuation, however can't when it comes to this guy.

They want about £40m. His profile doesn’t demand that.

 

[Pintu]

9 goals and 7 assists in 2311 minutes translates to a goal contribution every 144.4 minutes. So he either scored or assisted a goal roughly every game and a half.

Just for reference last year (league minutes only) -
Rashford: 4 goals 2 assists in 1233 minutes (205.5 min per G/A)
Martial: 1 goal 1 assist in 705 minutes (352.5 min per G/A)
Bruno: 10 goals 6 assists in 3120 minutes (195.0 min per G/A)
Sancho: 3 goals 3 assists in 1904 minutes (317.3 min per G/A)
Ronaldo: 18 goals 3 assists in 2459 minutes (117.1 min per G/A)

Genuinely don't understand why Morata's record is somehow horrible given this context.

Morata scored 1 goal every 256 minutes in 2022-Serie A. This is not the 90s Serie A and not the current PL. This is one of the highest-scoring leagues in Europe over the last few years. Every decent striker playing for a top-half team should be scoring 15+ goals there, no excuses. And that's what most of them are doing. 30 players in Serie A scored more than him last season. Nobody is asking him to bang in 20+ as Vlahovic, Lautaro and Immobile do. Not even asking him to get the Abragam, Osimhen, Simeone numbers at around 15+.

But why can't he beat random nobodies like Pinamonti, Arnautovic, Delofeu ? Because he is a mediocre striker and he has always been.

Rashford and Martial being crap don't absolve Morata... And shouldn't be relevant in this discussion. Sancho is 22. He is on another level and he's shown it before with BVB, he will be brillant in a system that works.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Morata scored 1 goal every 256 minutes in 2022-Serie A. This is not the 90s Serie A and not the current PL. This is one of the highest-scoring leagues in Europe over the last few years. Every decent striker playing for a top-half team should be scoring 15+ goals there, no excuses. And that's what most of them are doing. 30 players in Serie A scored more than him last season. Nobody is asking him to bang in 20+ as Vlahovic, Lautaro and Immobile do. Not even asking him to get the Abragam, Osimhen, Simeone numbers at around 15+.

But why can't he beat random nobodies like Pinamonti, Arnautovic, Delofeu ? Because he is a mediocre striker and he has always been.

Rashford and Martial being crap don't absolve Morata... And shouldn't be relevant in this discussion. Sancho is 22. He is on another level and he's shown it before with BVB, he will be brillant in a system that works.

I don't know why you are so determined to avoid assists here when that is a huge part of what he brings to the table. If you are looking solely at goals then sure - but part of the reason why those numbers I gave for United's other players are so anemic is because they are playing with the epitome of a score-first selfish striker. I agree that Sancho is an excellent player but he can't do it all alone - playing off of someone like Morata instead of Ronaldo would doubtlessly be better for him.

If you include assists, Morata had one more scoring contribution than Arnautovic in ~400 fewer minutes. One more than Pinamonti in ~500 fewer minutes. 2 fewer contributions than Deulofeu in ~300 fewer minutes - so Morata's rate of ~144 min per contribution betters Deulofeu's rate of 146 mins per.

Again, I'm not arguing he's the second coming of R9 or something. He's got his limitations. But making him out like he's totally shit like many have done in this thread is over the top.